But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; — Matthew 5:44
When I was younger, I remember a situation where someone that I went to church with upset me pretty badly. They had used me for personal gain, breaking my trust. Not only that, they talked badly about me and caused others to change their feelings towards me as well. It was a challenging situation for me at the time.
I wanted to be angry, get even, and cause them hurt. To this day I will never forget the advice that I received. Someone told me that I had to let it go, but that the most important thing that I could do was to love them. Yes, I was supposed to show love to the person who had hurt me.
It was one of the craziest things that I had ever heard at that point in my life. But that is exactly what Jesus is teaching here in Matthew 5. What Jesus is teaching here is much different than what the world teaches, or even what we want to do naturally.
The idea is not that we agree with what they are doing, and that they may even hurt us, but we are to love them. That we treat them fairly, and kindly and do good to them. Most of all, we should be an example of God’s love toward them.
That is a difficult kind of love. It goes against our very human nature. Yet, it’s what God expects of us. Chances are, as I shared my own personal story, you too can relate. You may have someone that has hurt you or mistreated you. While we want to get even, that’s not what God expects.
God’s expectation is that we love them in spite of what they have done. No matter the sin, no matter the situation, no matter how much it hurts, God says to love them. He doesn’t expect you to accept the sin or the wrongdoing as right. But He does expect you to love them as God loved us.
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